My family visited Grace Chapel this morning in Leipers Fork. They were hosting a guest speaker, Chris Williamson from Strong Tower Bible Church. He’s quite the speaker, by the way. The message centered on what we should do when things don’t go our way. It provided me with several insights, but for now I am writing about a point he made toward the end of his sermon. He talked a lot about John the Baptist and how he questioned whether Jesus was truly the Son of God after finding himself imprisoned. The pastor made a great point about John’s sudden lack of faith. John the Baptist had paved the way for Jesus. He had trumpeted the coming of the Lord. But when he found himself in a critical trial, in a time of real need, he stopped leaning on faith and started looking with his eyes, trying to trust in his frail humanity instead of his Heavenly Father.

That’s exactly where I am. I’ve had lots of starts and stops over the past year as I’ve tried to get closer to God. Without fail, I can always attribute the “starts” to times when I trust in Him to guide me, to take me on this journey, to lead me where I need to go next. Without fail, I can always attribute the “stops” to me not being faithful to the call, to taking my eyes off Him and looking around the next corner myself, to me saying, “Hey, I’ve got it from here.”

I’m not sure why I’m so quick to grab the steering wheel when He is such a better driver, and has the map, and knows the way, and can operate the vehicle more adeptly.  I am proud to say, though, that every time I “start” I make it a little longer, and every time I “stop” it doesn’t last as long. So I guess I’ll just “continue” and see what happens.